UW president, professors to meet with Colville leaders June 13 to discuss planning, development and education

A busload of University of Washington professors will be briefed June 13 on Colville community planning and business development as part of the third annual UW Faculty Field Tour.

The delegation of 30 new faculty members and librarians – led by UW President Richard L. McCormick – will discuss tribal issues on Day 2 of a five-day, 1,000-mile tour designed to give incoming faculty an understanding of and appreciation for the state and a chance to make research, teaching and public-service connections.

“This is becoming a UW tradition,” McCormick said. “We want our new professors to get a feel for all of Washington, and to discover how they can work with citizens around the state to address some of their challenges, opportunities and problems.”

The delegation is scheduled to take an hour-long tour of Grand Coulee Dam June 13 at 11 a.m. before sitting down to lunch at the Melody Restaurant in Coulee Dam. At 1 p.m., the UW group will gather at the Village Theater with staff of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Nation and members of the Colville Business Council, the confederation’s governing body. A brief tour of the Colville Nation Museum concludes the visit.

The UW group will likely explore potential educational projects and well as long-term community planning, trade, economic development and other issues.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is a sovereign nation covering 1.4 million acres. Tribal enterprises include casinos, timber operations, a resort and retail industries.

After the tribes’ presentation, the bus moves out toward Spokane, where the field tour will feature a visit to Fairchild Air Force Base and a roundtable discussion on Eastern Washington high-tech industries. This year’s Faculty Field Tour also will include a look inside the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, a panel discussion in the Tri-Cities on salmon restoration; a visit to a UW family-practice clinic in Yakima; a lecture on UW-student projects in Wapato; a tour of Goldendale Aluminum; an inspection of Mount St. Helens reforestation efforts; a trip to a Boeing plant in Puyallup and a tour of the Technology Access Foundation in Seattle.

In addition to hearing presentations about Washington’s economy, geography, history, politics and society, some participants can expect to develop ideas for relating research and teaching initiatives to state needs. And they are likely to form connections that may lead to collaborative research projects with organizations around the state.

The tour is open to faculty members who have been at the UW for three years or less. They are selected to represent the Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses and a wide variety of academic disciplines, ranging from architecture to zoology.

Among the newcomers is Jack Faris, vice president for university relations, and Yash Gupta, dean of the Business School.

The university covers meals, lodging and transportation for the tour using non-state-appropriated funds. The total cost for the week is estimated to be $50,000.